ASUS wants gamers to mine cryptocurrency when they don’t play games

Story by

ASUS is the latest technology giant to hop on the cryptocurrency mining bandwagon. The Taiwanese manufacturer is now encouraging gamers to mine cryptocurrency when they’re not playing games.

Putting to use their idle graphic cards, ASUS gamers will be able to mine cryptocurrency and cash out their earnings through PayPal or WeChat. The company has partnered with blockchain technology provider Quantumcloud, which has developed the mining software.

Details about which cryptocurrencies will be available to mine are suspiciously missing from the announcement. According to ASUS though, the whole operation is GDPR-compliant, which means Quantumcloud doesn’t store any sensitive customer information.

There is also no mention of how much gamers can earn – and whether ASUS or Quantumcloud will keep any cut from their mining profits. We’ve asked ASUS about this and we’ll update our piece when we hear back.

In any case, gamers shouldn’t expect to make a fortune from this activity. “You won’t get rich quick, but you can earn some easy money with your idle GPUs,” Quantumcloud says on its website.

A disclaimer in a press released shared with Hard Fork notes that ASUS and Quantumcloud do not “guarantee that users of its software will make any earnings or profit,” warning that users are responsible for “considering their own usage costs.” It’s funny how companies always hide those in the small print, right?

Hardware manufacturers entering blockchain

For the record, ASUS is hardly the only manufacturer looking to profit from the cryptocurrency hype.

Not so long ago, rival AMD launched a dedicated blockchain explainer page. But really, the whole thing was an elaborate marketing stunt to get people to buy its mining hardware.